Another Barony Castle wedding

I’ve photographed many weddings at Barony Castle but this was the first one where I ended up photographing the newly weds in the bath at the end of the day! In fact it’s the first time I’ve ever photographed the bride and groom in the bath! But first I’ll back track and go from the beginning.

I first met Karen and Norman many months ago at a Melville Castle wedding fair. Impressed with my Storybook albums they made an appointment with me for later in the week at which they booked. I meet with all my couples again about four weeks before the wedding day for their pre-wedding consultation. As a part of this meeting I discuss with them album design and preferences. Norman and Karen had chosen to add the award winning Bellissimo album to their overall package, which of course recently won the industry’s Wedding Album of the Year 2011. Every album I design is bespoke to each couple and their wedding, I do not use the generic album design software that most wedding photographers use as the template system results in many of the pages being duplicated by many photographers and therefore all the albums end up looking much the same. Starting from a complete blank canvas is just so much more creative. The page designs and layouts will be tailored to fit the wedding and the couple themselves giving them a unique and exclusive album. One of the reasons I like to discuss idea’s ahead of the wedding is just so I can have a good idea of the look and feel that each couple will like so that I can get my first draft as close as possible to how they want it to look.

For their photographic coverage Karen and Norman went for eight hours coverage so we’d start with some getting ready photos at Karen’s parents home and run through until the first dance. Karen’s parents live just outside Edinburgh so not far for an Edinburgh wedding photographer to travel. Karen’s sister was to be bridesmaid and her two young sons pageboys so we got some great shots at the home of everyone getting ready and enjoying the pre-wedding preparations. We are able to get plenty of details shots at this point including things like the dress, shoes, bouquets, jewellery etc as well as getting the reportage shots as the hair and make-up is done. It was a nice warm, sunny morning and time seemed to fly by.

I finished up at the house around 1pm and set off for Barony Castle to be there in time to get a few photographs of the groom and groomsmen prior to the ceremony. I was really looking forward to the wedding. My last two Barony Castle weddings both resulted in me winning awards from the SWPP (Society of Wedding & Portrait and Photographers) so it’s a venue I’m fond of. Amazingly, in the short time since leaving Karen’s parents house and arriving at Barony Castle it had started to rain. Although this isn’t a problem as there are plenty of alternatives for photographs on a rainy day I knew Karen had set her heart on taking the walk along the riverside up to the gazebo for some photographs, so I was hoping for her sake things might clear up.

After doing some photos with Norman, his bestman and ushers myself and Mike, the videographer from Watch the Birdie, were patiently waiting in the lobby for the brides arrival. By now it was raining quite hard and as there was limited space, both in the lobby and at the castle entrance car park, we worked out the best way of working to ensure we both got the photographs and footage we wanted. I’ve workedwith Watch the Birdie many times (probably because I recommend them so much lol) and they are a great company to work with who produce a high quality product. It was nice on this occasion to be working with Mike for a change as Geoff (the owner) usually eats half my dinner and dessert at the weddings we work together! At least today I wouldn’t go home hungry ;)

Karen duly arrived and we dodged out to get some shots in the back of the car and then a couple of posed photographs before we hit the aisle. From here on in I’m working photo-journalistically all the way through until the group photographs. The declarations, vows, ring exchanges etc always make for great moments and I move quietly from one corner to the other capturing these. The ceremony room at Barony Castle creates quite a difference in light levels when everyone is standing compared to when they sit down and I know from experience this upsets the camera’s metering (you would think a £2000 camera wouldn’t get upset over anything wouldn’t you!) so I switched everything to manual and selected the settings myself as we went through the proceedings.

Drinks and canapés after the ceremony, then the group photographs followed by a half hour session with Karen and Norman. It was still raining so we did everything inside using a few well known locations together with a couple I’d earmarked on my pre-wedding venue check. After these the rest of the day is photographed photo-journalistically again with shots of everyone enjoying themselves and having fun and of course speeches and toasts. At the end of the meal it had momentarily stopped raining so I asked Karen if she wanted to nip out for ten minutes and get the photographs along the riverside and at the gazebo. She was delighted! When we returned the band were running a little late and so Norman asked if I’d go up with them to the bridal suite and get a couple of photographs there. I’m there to do whatever my couples want on their wedding day so was happy to oblige.

We went up to the bridal suite and did a few shots positioning them in various locations in the large, spacious room, including the mirror shot you see here which I’ve just entered into this months SWPP image contest (so fingers crossed). When we finished Norman and myself were commenting on how gorgeous the bathroom was. Which resulted in me suggesting how about you climbing into the bath for the 'bride and groom in the bath' photograph that appears here. As you can see they were happy to oblige!

We still had a little time before the dancing got underway so Karen instructed me to go down and get something for myself from the chocolate fountain. I ran down eagerly down the stairs however once I’d gotten there I discovered Mike had beaten me to it and all that he’d left was a strawberry! Pfff! Come back Geoff all is forgiven!

Win Your Wedding - Norton House Hotel

Things are incredibly busy right now and I’m loving it! The wedding season is beginning to tail off a touch and so I’ve been doing a lot of portrait sessions and shoots following a highly successful promotion after being signed up by Edinburgh’s Great Deal’s. I also think it’s highly likely that a well known fashion name will be running a Kool Kids photo contest in Edinburgh sometime before the end of the year but at the moment that’s top secret so please don’t tell anyone.

I had a great time at Ocean Terminal last weekend for the Debenhams Wedding Weekend and now I’m getting ready for the Edinburgh wedding fair this Sunday at the Hilton Edinburgh Hotel. That’s providing I survive my shoot at the National Mining Museum Friday night, of course. For the first time in over 30 years the National Mining Museum Scotland is going to be illuminated at night and the Switch On is this Friday. The switch on itself is being carried out by a top secret prominent well known person (yes lots of secrets this week) and after photographing them pressing the Switch On button the museum want to hoik (my spell checker is telling me that 'hoik' is spelled wrong...it doesn’t realise it’s this weeks new word) me up on to a precipitous, over hanging rooftop so I can get some dramatic photographs of the floodlit Colliery. I’m really looking forward to it! The photos will be amazing!

Last weekend of course I photographed Diane and Steven’s wedding at Norton House Hotel. Diane and Steven were the lucky couple who won the Forth One Win Your Wedding contest. This is justabout the biggest prize on Scottish radio where Forth One pooled together some of the finest wedding companies in Scotland who donated their services for free giving the winning couple a dream wedding day worth well over £15,000. The wedding venue was the superb Norton House Hotel, one of Edinburgh’s most popular and delightful wedding venues and other winning prizes included Diane‘s wedding dress, flowers and decorations and arrangements, wedding cars, honeymoon, hair and make-up, photography, wedding cake, piper, fly over by the Red Arrows and first dance song performed by Lady Gaga. I missed photographing the Red Arrows flyover because Lady Gaga was busy asking me if I thought her hair would look okay in the photographs ;)

The day went great with nice sunny weather and a fun filled humanist ceremony. As with all weddings I am there to do whatever you want me to soI was more than happy to do a few family photographs with Steven prior to the ceremony and then I was awaiting the bridal arrivals. I got a few quick photos of Diane with her bridesmaid and flower girl both in the wedding car and then at Norton House entrance. I also photographed her alongside her Uncle Eddie who was going to be walking her up the aisle and giving her away before we headed inside, too. I love the Ballroom suite at Norton House because it is so spacious and I was able to photograph the ceremony from many different angles and vantage points whilst remaining as unobtrusive as possible. Earlier in the day I photographed the set up of the room, the floral arrangements and decoration as well as the cake that was on display just for the benefit of the other companies who had supplied them. I do this at most weddings as I’m always happy to help out other wedding suppliers with photos and images of their beautiful products.

I received a phone call this week from Sky TV’s 'Four Weddings' who are wanting me to put forward one or two of my future brides to be featured on the program in the near future and also later in 2012. So if you have booked me for your wedding photography or are about to book me please let me know if you are interested. I’ve discussed this with one or two of my forthcoming brides so far and the consensus of opinion is that it seems a rather scary proposition! lol. Anyway, if it’s not too scary an idea for you let me know and we can work things out.

If you are planning on coming to the Edinburgh wedding fair this Sunday you may be interested to know we will have the new Kate Middleton replica Royal Wedding dress featuring in the exclusive Pretty Woman fashion show. It looks absolutely amazing close up - even to a guy! There will be complimentary drinks and canapés, performances throughout the afternoon from Scotland’s finest string quartet, John MacKintosh will be piping the opening of the fashion show, I’ll have the award winning Wedding Album of the Year 2011 on my own stand and there’s also the chance to win a free engagement photo shoot followed by a romantic meal for two at the Hilton in the Prize Draw at 4pm. If you stick around for a while after the conclusion of the fashion show we should be doing a mini fashion shoot with the models which you are welcome to watch. I’ll even do you your own portrait too if you like :)

I won't win the VOWS this year :(

With the announcement of the VOWS awards nominees having been made since my last blog I thought I’d take the opportunity to say a big Thank You to all the newly weds whose weddings I had the pleasure of photographing this year and who gave me a vote. In the photography category to reach the final shortlist of eight each company required 15 votes and sadly I just missed out with 25 (scratches head confusededly).

If you read my blog regularly you will know that I have been thrilled to pick up a remarkable number of awards for my photography so far this year. As the year progressed and I photographed more and more weddings I received some lovely Thank You cards and gifts from my newly married couples. Although I have never actively promoted the VOWS many of these couples mentioned in their cards that they had voted for me in the VOWS awards and when the number reached 16 I began to think it might be a good idea to write to some of my other couples asking if they would consider giving me a vote too. So at the beginning of September (closing date for VOWS votes was Sept 20th) I did this and nine couples replied that they would indeed send in their votes for me.

I was rather chuffed about this. I target 30-35 weddings a year (as most of my couples usually add on a Storybook album to their packages this allows me to dedicate enough time for their album design as well as to fit in some portrait sessions and magazine assignments, etc) so I thought 25 votes was a pretty good percentage. However, when the short listed finalists were announced I was not among them (breaks out the violin, lol). To be honest I wasn’t unduly concerned as I’m an Edinburgh wedding photographer who runs a small family company and I do not employ other photographers so obviously I don’t photograph as many weddings as the larger companies. But I was interested to know how my votes compared against the finalists so I emailed the VOWS organisers for the stats and figures. They kindly sent back the following information...

In the photography category they received a total of 1,059 entries. For a company to reach the eight short listed places as finalists they needed 15 votes. Philip Hawkins Photography fell short having only 11 votes. Pooo! (Please note the organisers didn't actually say 'Pooo', that was me!)

I certainly cannot see 16 couples, totally unprompted, sending me Thank You cards which say they have voted for me making it up. I hadn't even mentioned anything about the VOWS to them. And even if none of the other 9 remembered to vote if my maths is right I'm still above the 15. Oh, well, I guess next year I’ll have to ask the counting officers to check under their desks and chairs, lol.

Although it does sound rather confusing (btw, I hope you spotted this weeks new word earlier) I didn’t dwell on it for long as the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers results for the September monthly contest were published beginning of October and I managed to pick up no fewer than four awards in the categories of 'Weddings Contemporary', 'Weddings Photojournalism', 'Weddings Traditional' and 'Bridal Portraiture'. All from the same wedding! So I was a very happy photographer! (Grrr, I meant to say wedding photographer Edinburgh as it’s good for my SEO, lol) So the four images are the ones you see here.

It’s a big day for lots of people tomorrow (Friday) especially Diane and Stephen who were the Radio Forth winners of the Win Your Wedding 2011 contest. I’m charging up all the batteries and stuff as we speak in readiness to do their photography for their Norton House Hotel wedding in the afternoon. I’m then at Ocean Terminal shopping centre Saturday and Sunday for the Debenhams Wedding Weekend followed by the Edinburgh wedding fair at the Hilton Hotel the next again weekend.

I am already receiving great interest in our first photography course in Edinburgh for 2012 (details are now up on my website). Date is January 7th at the Edinburgh Hilton Hotel. It’s an all day course Getting to grips with digital photography. So if you know anyone who has perhaps recently taken up an interest in photography or maybe receives a new digital camera as a Christmas present or anyone who simply wants to understand their camera more or improve their photography level please pass on the details to them. Places are limited so its first come first served. We also have several other classes and courses coming up too so you may like to bookmark the link.

Once again may I say thanks to those of you for all the Thank You cards, emails and presents. I’ve popped a selection of them up on the Testimonials page on my website and I’ll also be using others in various promotional and marketing materials. I know that last week I was talking about news and rumours so I’ll finish up today with the rumour that one of my weddings will be a feature article in the next issue of Best Scottish Weddings magazine and another one will feature in Hitched Real Life Weddings!

Wedding news, rumours, Royal wedding dress

Things are hectic just now with lots going on and even more lots coming up (excuse the grammar, lol)! As we are approaching the end of summer traditionally the weddings start to slow down a little. It’s this time of year when I am able to accommodate more portrait sessions and photo shoots (so feel free to give me a call and check available times) and I’m also involved in doing some work for some of the Edinburgh wedding venues as they look to update websites and portfolio’s and bring out new brochures. I’ve been in a bunch of meetings this week with four top Edinburgh venue’s, and also two bridal shops, who are arranging for me to come in and do new photography for them. The first one is this Friday!

We are also approaching the autumn wedding fair season and there’s lots of new and exciting things coming up in readiness for that which I’ll tell you about in a minute. One question many folks keep asking me is what do I think will happen to Melville Castle? Well here is my official answer - "dunno". Okay, now for the rumours…The Aurora Group who currently have Melville Castle in their portfolio along with Airth Castle, Glenbervie and a couple of other new venues, will be releasing Melville very shortly. They only have 3 or 4 remaining weddings and then that’s them finished. Melville Castle will then return to the Haye family. Regarding future Melville Castle weddings at this point in time I am not sure what will happen but the rumour is that the Haye’s are looking to re-open the Castle as a Hotel again or at least a wedding venue. I believe Melville Castle is far too beautiful a place for it to go to waste so I’m quite optimistic I will be shooting weddings here again sometime soon.

Here’s some additional exciting news that is definitely not rumour! As you know I organise the Edinburgh Wedding Fair at the Hilton Edinburgh Hotel and the next event is October 16th. The brand new Kate Middleton replica Royal wedding dress will be featured in our fashion show! We are all really excited about this as the dress is creating huge excitement and this will be one of the first opportunities for future brides to see it. I was in the Pretty Woman bridal boutique just yesterday to see for myself that it is really true, lol. I have to say it does look absolutely stunning!

The Radio Forth Win Your Wedding winners have their wedding next Friday, October 7th, so check back in a couple of weeks to see their photographs from their Norton House Hotel wedding. Straight after that I will be at the Debenhams Wedding Weekend at Edinburgh’s Ocean Terminal Saturday the 8th and Sunday the 9th. The event is hosted by Debenhams and they invite along half a dozen "experts" from various other wedding sphere’s like flowers and arrangements, designer cakes, photography, etc. Apparently, I am the wedding photography 'expert' :) So I will have a range of different wedding albums and books, including the award winning 2011 Wedding Album of the Year, and I’ll be available to answer any wedding photography related questions. Although I am privileged to be the only Edinburgh wedding photographer at the weekend you are welcome to discuss any questions or subjects whether you book me for your wedding photography or not.

I have also had a few further meetings this week concerning the introduction of Philip Hawkins Photography courses, training and seminars in 2012. Things are shaping up nicely and details will be available soon. The Edinburgh Hilton Hotel are also in discussion with me about running Edinburgh Photography Weekends based at the Hilton. So I’ll be bringing more news about that fairly soon. I’ve had a few enquiries already about the photography courses so if you’d like to add your name to my email list you’ll be the first to receive details when everything is firmed up.

I know there’s only a couple of photographs this week but if you want to see one of my latest wedding Storybook slideshows click the link to take you to my Youtube channel.

Bestmen have talent

Being a professional wedding photographer means I get to hear and see a great many wedding speeches each year but at Vicky and Danny’s wedding a couple of weeks ago I enjoyed the most entertaining bestmans speech I’ve ever seen! Its always exciting on a wedding day when something completely unexpected happens and Danny’s bestman really made sure of that! He was so brilliant he even out shone the professional wedding entertainer!

As a photographer its great when something dramatic happens particularly when your style of wedding photography is predominantly reportage or photojournalistic. However, it can also prove to be challenging too which, for me, is something I revel in!
As Vicky and Daniel’s guests were getting organised for the line up myself and the videography team were scoping out the marquis in readiness for the wedding speeches. Much of the marquis was quite dark but the top table was positioned in front of a row of windows which meant the backlighting was very strong. From a technical point of view because everyones faces will be looking into the room this can cause the problem of them appearing too dark against the very bright background. To get around this the videography crew decided to set up external lighting positioned slightly in front of the top table and providing illumination from within the room. Usually I will do likewise in this type of situation however for today it was easy enough for me to simply utilise the lighting from the video set up.

When we set up external lighting it is operated by an infra red transmitter attached to the cameras, so when we fire the shutter this triggers the lights. This allows us to move around the room and shoot from the best angles and vantage points knowing that our preset lighting is going to give us excellent results without us worrying about it. From experience though I never connect all the camera’s into the system as I like to have at least one or two camera’s fixed with their own dedicated flash gun which allows for greater manoeuvrability. The problem with using external lights is that once they are set up in the optimum position you cannot really move them until the speeches are over. I learnt this lesson a long time ago from one of my first weddings at Norton House Hotel wedding where during the speeches the bestman had arranged for a friend dressed in a gorilla suit to come charging into the room, scaring all the guests half to death and then uplifting the bride from the top table and whisking her off into the night. This of course had been organised as a surprise so nobody had been expecting it and, has had been hoped, it did indeed cause great hilarity! Back then I didn’t have mobile lighting so it was no problem to simply run after the galloping gorilla and shoot him as he carried out his gorillaring. Although nowadays I have much more equipment at my disposal I nevertheless remember that occurrence and I’m mindful of the fact that if I had been relying on external lighting alone, albeit far more effective than a camera speedlite, it would have been impossible to manouver it to keep up with the swift moving proceedings and I would have lost a lot of potential photographs. As an Edinburgh wedding photographer it’s not just gorilla’s I’ve had to shoot over the years. I recall a rather large penguin at a Harburn House wedding, a bouncing bunny at a wedding at Houston House, a roomful of popping balloons at a Royal Terrace Hotel wedding, a mad monk at a Craighouse wedding and a vampire bat at Barony Castle!

So Danny’s bestman began his speech and he really was a great orator! We got some excellent photos as he stood at the top of the marquis making everyone laugh. But then as he came to the end of his speech he requested that everyone remain seated and allow him 60 seconds to set something up. He left the top table and made his way to the opposite end of the marquis and over to the sound system. A flick of a switch and suddenly a soundtrack burst into life. Although no one knew what was coming I had noted that he had carried the microphone used for the speeches with him all the way to the back of the room so I had a feeling something unusual was on the cards. Sure enough as the music started up he announced he’d like to perform a special song he’d written just for Vicky and Danny.

I immediately ran to the back of the marquis and started photographing him as he launched into a most hilarious song. I have to say he had an amazing voice and the lyrics were side-splitting! He also had some great moves too and as he sang he danced and weaved his way between all the wedding tables as the guests tried their hardest not to fall off their seats from laughing. He eventually made his way to the front again and concluded his song right in front of the bride and groom at the head of the room. A standing ovation ensued! Vicky’s mum told Diane later that if they had known how good he was they could have saved a fortune on the entertainment! lol

Louise and Richard's wedding at Melville Castle

Well I was delighted to pick up three awards last month (August) in the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers monthly contest from three recent weddings. One of the winning images I had used in my blog a couple of weeks ago from Lisa and Richard’s wedding titled When it rains on your wedding day. It’s the black and white shot of my bride Lisa that appears midway through the article. And today I’m going to start with a shot that won in the 'Weddings Traditional' category from Louise and Richard’s wedding at Melville Castle.

For me, this photograph has just about everything, and I love it! It is a classically posed shot, hence why it fitted the 'Traditional Weddings' category, that capitalizes on the grandeur of the venue but also, because I’ve included all the guests milling around enjoying their drinks in the background and also managed to retain a relaxed look in the pose (the reason I asked Richard to have his hand in his pocket) it harmonises well with my storybook style of photography. I lay on ground to take the photograph as this angle creates more impact to the background increasing the drama of the skies and the castle. To avoid the technical problems of having either the couple thrown into silhouette or losing all the detail in the skies I exposed for the sky and bounced some external light up into the bride and groom. The image worked out exactly as I hoped and winning the award is ample compensation for the dry cleaning bill for my suit after clambering up off the damp grass, lol.

Throughout the day I constantly overheard guests commenting on how the beautiful Louise and Richard’s flowers were. You can see from two of the bride and groom photographs here how well the deep,rich colours looked in the photos. I’ve also included a couple of their detail shots too so you can see how their table arrangements and also their wedding cupcakes tied in with them.

You will know doubt have noticed that I have had many weddings this year at Melville Castle. This is because, as you may have heard, the Aurora Group will be releasing Melville Castle from their portfolio at the end of the year so a number of weddings that were already booked for 2012 have been re-arranged and brought forward to 2011. I have been Melville Castle’s main recommended photographer for many years now which is why I photograph so many weddings here. As to what will happen with Melville Castle from 2012 onwards we will have to wait and see. There’s a few possibilities being discussed just now and I’m sure it will continue to be used in some way as it’s too nice a venue to go to waste.

Richard and Louise had come up from the north east of England to marry at Melville Castle and they were really fortunate to have such gorgeous summer weather given all the wind and rain we’ve had in Edinburgh the last few weeks. I think all the wedding photographers in Edinburgh will agree that this year we’ve had some of the craziest weather I can remember! Anyway we all had a brilliant day and came away with a superb set of photographs! This is an extract from their Thank You card I received just a couple of days ago...

"Dear Philip,
Just a quick note to say thank you for everything on the day and for some great shots that we will treasure forever! Everyone has commented on the great service you provided on the day and the way you and your wife made our guests feel so relaxed and were so approachable meant that not only were the portrait style pictures fantastic but also the capture the moment shots are great too. Great news about the award too, much deserved! Thanks again.
Louise and Richard"

I’ve now got their card sitting on top of my 2011 pile for when I update the Testimonial page on my website at the end of the year.

Next for me I'm back for a wedding at Barony Castle on Saturday so really looking forward to another trip down there. Hope I don’t fall in the river, though :O

Melville Castle weddings, Louise and Paul

This has to be one of the most diverse wedding seasons for weather we’ve ever had. I think I’ve photographed a wedding in every possible kind of condition. But the strange thing is it has been so changeable from one day to the next. A fortnight ago I blogged about Lisa and Richard’s wedding in the rain, then last week it was glorious sunshine for Jimmy and Julie’s wedding at Auchen Castle and then Louise and Paul’s wedding at Melville Castle which is todays blog, was the day after Jimmy and Julie’s, and it was not only raining but blowing a gale too! On top of this of course are the weddings when its rained and sunshined (sunshined is this weeks new word, lol) at the same time like Alana and Colin’s Norton House wedding and Jo and Richard’s Harburn House wedding. Anyway, if you’ve wondered what I do when it rains on your wedding day (and you haven’t already done so) you can find the answer by scrolling down the page to the article When it rains on your wedding day and for now I will tell you a bit about Louise and Paul’s wedding whilst trying hard not to repeat myself.

The bridal suite at Melville Castle is room 11 located in the west wing. If you have a preference for some where else they will try to accommodate your request and there are a couple of nice alternatives up on the first floor, one overlooking the front lawn and another overlooking the rear. However, today room 11 was in operation for Louise and her four bridesmaids. It was here that I started with some detail shots of Louise’s dress, flowers, shoes and such like before running back up to the lobby to grab some pictures of Paul and his groomsmen. I was then hurrying back down to the bridal suite as Louise wanted photos of her bridesmaids lacing up the back of the wedding dress, which is always a great fun thing to photograph. I also wanted to get a quick posed photograph of Louise and the girls before they made their way along the west wing for the ceremony. Today’s registrar from the local Dalkeith office was Lyn who I’ve worked with many times before and because she knows I’m quick and unobtrusive she was happy to allow me to set the shot up in the corridor outside the room where there is a lovely large skylight providing beautiful overhead lighting even though it was time for the girls to be making their way to the Ballroom for the ceremony.

At Melville Castle when the bride uses room 11 they give her the choice of
coming along to the Ballroom either through the main lobby or taking her up in the lift to the first floor which allows her to descend the staircase. Most opt for the staircase as it is so distinguished and makes for a more dramatic entrance. Of course, descending the staircase does not take very long but I used to get a good range and diversity of photographs by sitting side saddle style on the banister at the top of the staircase and then sliding down the banister backwards whilst photographing the bridal procession as they make their way down. However, this in itself looked so spectacular that I had to stop doing it as the videographers used to end up filming me instead of the bride! (those of you whose weddings I’ve photographed at Melville Castle know this is a slightly exaggerated story but I just thought I’d throw it in to liven up the narrative)

During the ceremony there was sufficient room for me to move quietly around behind Lyn and use both corners of the room enabling me to shoot the expressions on both Louise and Paul’s faces. This is particularly nice during the declarations and vows which of course are said to each other and often produce those unique, spontaneous moments which make reportage photography so enjoyable. I know many photographers like to try and recreate these afterwards for photographs but in my opinion these never equal an authentic, unrepeatable moment of spontaneity. I’ve used three examples from the ceremony here which as you can see have captured genuine, spur of the moment emotions that are completely natural.

I know a lot of Edinburgh wedding photographers who don’t like to move from side to side during the
ceremony as the changes in light from one corner to another is so dramatically different it can upset the camera’s metering. Videographers often encounter the same difficulty and so they select a spot in advance and choose to remain there for the duration. When working from the window side of the room the camera will give a good accurate exposure reading but when moving to the opposite side where you are then facing the window the camera will usually underexpose everything. From experience I just switch the camera to manual and select my own settings which for the benefit of any other Edinburgh wedding photographer reading this are f4 and an 80th of a second when it is raining outside. If you want to know what settings to use on a sunny day please
check back next week or book yourself on one of my photography courses which start next year (plug, plug, lol).

As you can see from the second last picture I came back and used the staircase later too when I did the bride and groom session. This is one of my favourites looking straight up with that gorgeous light flooding in through the huge ornate windows on the top floor. The final shot I’m posting for today is one of the group photographs taken in the grand lobby. I love the smiles on the parents faces but most of all I just adore the expression on the baby’s face :)